Bring me the head of Diego Garcia...and the Mayor of Addu Atoll too!

[Cap Mandrake]

Interesting. The first raid over the Kuriles was conducted by B-25's from Alexei Field on Attu, early July 1943. I don't think you can reach Paramushro wtih B-25's in AE

The mission of Eleventh Air Force was to take advantage of the new airfields on Shemya and Attu, and carry out offensive operations against the enemy forces in the Kuriles. Orders were issued in early July 1943 for the first bombing attack on the Japanese Home Islands since the April 1942 Doolittle Raid. Crews and aircraft were to be provided by the 21st, 36th and 77th bomb Squadrons. Initially Eleventh Air Force had little intelligence available about the Kurile Islands. IX Bomber Command coordinated with Navy personnel who were able to provide various documents, maps and other documents about the Islands. This included captured Japanese documents from Attu. From this information the command put together an accurate assessment of the Japanese military installations on the island chain.[1]

On 10 July 1943, eight B-25 Mitchells from the 77th Bombardment Squadron left Adak AAF and refueled at Alexai Point AAF on Attu. High-explosive bombs were also loaded on the aircraft. Six B-24 Liberator bombers from the 21st Bombardment Squadron on Shemya were scheduled to join them, however they were diverted to attack Japanese transport ships spotted by a Navy PBY aircrew. The B-25s reached Paramushiro, which they found completely socked in by clouds. Using time/distance calculations they dropped their 500-pound bombs though the clouds on what they believed were the Japanese installations, then headed back to Alexi Point and landed after nine and a half-hour, 1,000-mile flight. At the time, it was the longest B-25 Mitchell mission of the war. Meanwhile, the B-24 Liberators had attacked the transports but failed to achieve any hits. One Liberator was hit by anti-aircraft fire from the ships and managed to make a wheels-up landing on Shemya.[1]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: sprior

I don't how many people actually read this stuff, I think it's just 7 or 8 people checking here for something exciting/interesting/funny to see mostly and disappointed at that. But anyway if you're a serious naval buff you might be interested in this https://support.nmrn.org.uk/the-anglo-g ... war-at-sea

Norman Friedman and NAM Rodger are the keynote speakers. All this plus dinner on the Victory for £100? F@$£ yes! Sign up. Now. You can sleep at my place for the 3 days. Really.

You know-you chaps sell yourselves short. I'd say there are at least 10 people checking here for something exciting/interesting/funny to see mostly and disappointed at that. [:-]

The conference sounds interesting, mate-I enjoyed "Castles of Steel", but there's something about the commute for the conference that is off putting.

[sanch]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Shemya Airfield, June 1943 with Marsden matting.

I'd say there's a good chance for a loop-de-doop shortly after that guy touches down ...

[sprior]

Why is he landing on Skegness beach?

[zuluhour]

You know if you guys get bored you could figure out the square miles of a WITP-AE hexagon for me.  Something about dividing it into triangles etc.. Ive tried to get it done at work but the ^%$# phone rings everytime I sit down to it. It's been about 4 or five decades since Ive seen my geometry text book anyway. Hey I'm just ask'in.

[Cap Mandrake]

You know the Apothem (because it's 1/2 the "width" of the hexagon and that's in the manual. [:)]

You can divide the hexagon into 12 30-60-90 triangles as shown. The Apothem is the height of the triangle.

The ratios between the sides of a 30-60-90 triangle are always 1, 2, sqrt(3). A=sqrt(3) * B

The area of the triangle is 1/2 * base * height ..or ...1/2 * A/sqrt(3) * A....or.....A^^2/sqrt(3) * 2

But there are 12 triangles so the area of the hexagon is 6 * A^^2/sqrt(3)

[erstad]

Never mind

[Cap Mandrake]

Somebody check that. [:)]


I just got a recruitment letter from the Air Farce. No kidding. Apparently, their system isn't very sophisticated.


I wrote back and told them ............."I am already a Fleet Admiral and could you beat that?"

[Disco Duck]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

What could possibly go wrong?

You don't have enough insurance, even at the Bill Clinton level?[X(]

I would be having an inspector checking out the rest of the house!

[sprior]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

You know the Apothem (because it's 1/2 the "width" of the hexagon and that's in the manual. [:)]

You can divide the hexagon into 12 30-60-90 triangles as shown. The Apothem is the height of the triangle.

The ratios between the sides of a 30-60-90 triangle are always 1, 2, sqrt(3). A=sqrt(3) * B

The area of the triangle is 1/2 * base * height ..or ...1/2 * A/sqrt(3) * A....or.....A^^2/sqrt(3) * 2

But there are 12 triangles so the area of the hexagon is 6 * A^^2/sqrt(3)

I googled the same answer is you! In this case the apotherm is 20.

[CT Grognard]

Hang on...so are you telling me that, since we know the distance across a hex is 40 nautical miles, this means the perimeter of a hex in AE is 138.56 nautical miles and the area of a hexagon is 1,385.64 square nautical miles?

[poodlebrain]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

What could possibly go wrong?

A down-on-his-luck, itinerant choreographer seeking employ could suffer a nasty tumble while attempting to demonstrate his skills to your tradesmen. I refuse to speculate as to why your tradesmen would need a choreographer, but you do live in a place where an unusually high portion of people have dreams of careers in show business as other than stagehands.

[Argos]

With regard to the B-24s on Shemya - As my Flight Instructor is all to happy to point out, you can land a plane on anything, the trick is in being able to walk/fly away afterwards. (Snarky is apparently now an accepted FAA instructional style...)

[Lecivius]

ORIGINAL: sprior

Whereas the Churchill's gun I still proudly, er, not drooping.

Seems like a bit...smaller caliber?

[zuluhour]

Is this so?

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

Is this so?

Not in terms of bore. It's an Ordnance QF 75 on the Churchill and a 75 mm M3 L/40 gun on the Sherman.

I think the M3 L/40 has a wider barrel at the base...so...if you buying a "gun cover" you might chose the extra large. It's a good idea to save the receipt and leave it in your car too.

[Cap Mandrake]

After seeing the water damage to my balconies, I am reminded of my moderately annoying neighbor, the former husband of Old Widda' Smith.

He used to brag that he repainted the balcony surfaces every year. I thought he was just one of those idiots who change their oil every 1500 miles but I now realize he may have been on to something. My guess is the proper interval is somewhere between 1 year and 20 years, but definitely less than 20.

I did take some comfort in knowing he killed himself. Seems to me he jumped the gun a little on that.

[zuluhour]

Damn It Capt'n, not the gun, the area of a hexagon.[:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

Damn It Capt'n, not the gun, the area of a hexagon.[:D]

Oh. [:)] I think it's right.

I make the perimeter about 138.6 nm

and the area about 1385.7 nm

That seems about right..it has to be less than a 40 x 40 square (1600 nm)?? Also, each side is a bit longer than the apothem so it has to be a bit over 120??

[CaptDave]

You really could simplify things by remembering that the area of a triangle is 1/2(bh). Then you could simplify the calculation even more by recognizing that you have six equilateral triangles, and in an equilateral triangle b=h. So, for each equilateral triangle a=200 (10*20). Six of those gives you an area of 1200 nm² for the hexagon.

This assumes, of course, that when a hex is described as "40 nm across" it means side to side and not corner to corner. Rates of ground movement point toward this being an accurate assumption (boy, isn't that a scary concept!).